


Cold

by LtLJ



Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Character of Color, Friendship, Gen, Team, Vignette
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2007-08-06
Updated: 2007-08-06
Packaged: 2017-10-03 12:48:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 709
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18255
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LtLJ/pseuds/LtLJ
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It wasn't so much a cave as it was an open rocky shelf, hanging out over the riverbed, but at least it was safe from the moose-crocs.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Cold

**Author's Note:**

> Written for an art meme by Ileliberte.

It wasn't so much a cave as it was an open rocky shelf, hanging out over the riverbed, but at least it was safe from the moose-crocs. John braced himself on the rough cliff and gave Rodney a boost up onto the ledge. "Careful,"

Rodney swore, scrambling inside the narrow cleft. "It's colder in here than it is out there!"

"Rodney," John said, pointedly, reaching down to grab the pack Teyla was passing up to him. They were all borderline hypothermic, deeply exhausted, John's socks were wet, and Rodney had stepped on his hand twice on the climb up; he had seriously just about had it. "Is there anything with giant horns and teeth the size of Wisconsin in there? Because I don't know about you, but that's what I'm mainly concerned with right now."

"Point taken," Rodney snarled, and took the pack as John handed it up.

John reached down and caught Teyla's hand, helping her scramble up. She was a little too short to reach the best handholds, and looked really pissed off about it. "I truly hope," she said through gritted teeth, fumbling for the narrow cracks in the rock, "That this is our last night here."

From the ledge above, Rodney said, "I hope you meant that in the 'tomorrow we get back to the gate' sense and not the 'eaten by freakish wildlife sense,' because--"

A low howl echoed up the gorge and they all froze for an instant. "Never mind," Rodney muttered. "Just hurry, hurry." _Crap,_ John thought, giving Teyla a boost upward. Who knew something that looked like a moose could be so freaking persistent?

"I meant the former," Teyla assured them grimly, as Rodney grabbed her arm and helped her up.

Ronon scrambled up the cliff after her, and John started to say, "Go ahead, I'll--" when Ronon grabbed the back of John's tac vest and shoved him up and onto the ledge.

"Oof," John and Teyla said in tandem, as he landed in her lap. Tempting as it was to just curl up and stay there, he climbed off her. They all squeezed over, Rodney wedging himself into the narrow crack just in front of them.

Ronon hauled himself up on the ledge in a flurry of muddy leather. There wasn't much room and they were packed in like sardines. Ronon shifted around, putting an arm around John and Teyla and bracing his legs on the opposite side of the cleft next to Rodney. "There's no way it's getting up here," he reported.

"That's what you said about the tree," Rodney said darkly, propping the pack against Ronon's legs and opening it.

"None of us saw that one coming," John reminded him. He was inclined to be optimistic, despite the fact that his feet were throbbing, and his back felt as if several large sharp metal things were jammed into it in various places. He was sitting down for the first time all day, they were sheltered from the cold wind and the oncoming rain, and, squeezed in between Ronon and Teyla, he was almost warm. Also, Rodney was sitting at just the right angle that once he fell asleep, John would be able to prop his feet up on him. "What's for dinner?"

Rodney dug through their few supplies. "Here, power bars. And this is all we have left, so make it last."

Ronon craned his neck to see into the pack. "I want the granola one."

"You'll take the one I give you and like it," Rodney snapped. "And damn it, it would be nice to have a word of warning before you shove your freezing boots practically into my groin."

"Sorry." Teyla winced.

Then Rodney stopped, glaring at Ronon suspiciously. "What? Why are you smiling?"

"Nothing," Ronon said, definitely not smiling. "I wasn't smiling."

"You were smiling," Teyla said, shivering as she tucked herself under John's arm. "Tell us. We are in need of something to smile about."

Ronon slumped, stared out the opening into the cold gray sky. Finally, grudgingly, he said, "The last time I was on a world like this, hiding in a cave, I was alone." He shrugged, looking back at them, the smile tugging at his mouth again. "Now I'm not."

**end**


End file.
